Comments on: Limited edition Justin Bieber vinyl https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl Lollards in the high church of low culture Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:26:13 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: Janay https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-1056635 Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:26:13 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-1056635 Pleasing you suhlod think of something like that

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By: Tommy Mack https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-963150 Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:14:39 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-963150 In today’s industry, presumably The Zombies would get wind of the overseas buzz around …Season in time to tour it, but presumably they wouldn’t have been kept on a major label for three years after their only hit. Although, if they had to fund the recording of Odessey… themselves, that’s not too different to nowadays. I hope they got a better royalty rate on it once it took off!

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-960540 Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:42:03 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-960540 #20: with the Zombies that was a symptom rather than a cause – basically CBS had no idea what to do with them; as a British wing of an American company they were still finding their feet in ’67-8 and beyond marketing Dylan, Cash, Byrds etc. records they didn’t really have a clue; “Care Of Cell 44” got huge amounts of airplay as a single (Blackburn’s record of the week etc.) but didn’t chart because shops either ran out of copies or didn’t receive copies in the first place. The central thinking was that teenybop was on the way up and so all the UK promo resources went on Love Affair, the Tremeloes and Marmalade rather than a group like the Zombies which in Britain were seen as a slight anachronism, a Beat boom one-hit wonder, such that the group had to fund the recording of Odessey and Oracle out of their own royalties. So no money got made and everyone went back to their day jobs (at least for a bit). And then thanks to Al Kooper’s superior promo skills in the States, “Time Of The Season” took off “posthumously.”

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By: Tommy Mack https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-959769 Mon, 19 Dec 2011 10:13:52 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-959769 I think it’s instinctive whenever a band you dislike gets massive to think of them as stealing attention from something better.

I love some pop music; the good stuff. Of course, you’d say the same about your own tastes, but I’d be right because I’m the hero of the story and the view the audience at home sees…

Pete Doherty didn’t sell that many records! In 2007, The Libs’ self-titled album was ‘on it’s way to platinum certification’, three years after it came out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Libertines_%28album%29

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By: unlogged mog https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-959311 Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:57:48 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-959311 But if Ken Dodd didn’t have number ones then the conglomerated sales of music in general would be lower, innit. I love Isis, for instance but I accept that it is not reasonable to expect everyone else to share my taste and so they do moderately well but not as well as some acts that make me want to use phrases like ‘inexplicably successful overprivileged shitmerchants attempting to peddle the concept that something deep within themselves means they needn’t practice or even turn up to gigs to be recognised as musicians because of their innate and special talents’ such as The Libertines.

I’m a woman filled to the brim with firey bile, though and I can recognise that as much as I found the mid-2000s batch of indie gap year bands frustrating and puzzling I think that, over all, it was a good thing that Pete Doherty sold so many records because in the end it meant that people were buying them and people were turning up to gigs and attending festivals and the idea of taking an interest in music was cool still. People listening to music of any kind enriches the industry, convinces investors and musicians to continue plugging away- there’s no music sale ever that’s damaged its health.

There are a lot of injustices based on sales- The Zombies split, believing they had sold almost no copies of Odyssey and Oracle because the sales information took so long to reach them from abroad, at the time. Acts get dropped for no reason, some things mysteriously don’t sell with no apparent cause but whatever people’s motivations for actually going out there and buying stuff it’s all generally healthy.

Computer games, now, get a lot of attention because they sell shitloads of units. The games industry dwarfs the film industry in terms of turnover and Farmville has more players than beautifully crafted experiences made painstakingly as someone’s life work. Nevertheless, the success of Farmville means that the chance of getting your game developed is much higher; thus too with music. The highest selling thing won’t always be the best on some critical level but it will be the most enjoyed and in the spirit of mindbendingly sentimentalist Christmas specials, that is actually what the entertainment industries are about.

(I don’t mean that in some sort of ‘only Christ we deserve’ way; the most popular things do tell us something about ourselves but only usually the way that they work with the platform they’re delivered on)

(Also for the record I adore pop music and yes I am aware this is the single most unreasonably grumpy expression of positivity about an industry or our culture ever; I am, however, well meaning)

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By: Tommy Mack https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-959186 Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:24:53 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-959186 Yeah, I probably wouldn’t disagree there!

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By: mark sinker https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-959097 Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:32:17 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-959097 ken dodd >>>>>>>>>>>> richard e. grant >>>>>>>>>> nick hancock

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By: Tommy Mack https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-959066 Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:56:57 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-959066 It’s true. I remember someone (maybe Richard E Grant) putting ‘the 60s’ into Room 101 back in the Nick Hancock days, basically in revenge for the Britpop-era 60s nostalgia industry. It was introduced with something along the lines of ‘People talk about Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, but let’s not forget that this man had 13 top ten hits’ and then a clip of Ken Dodd singing Tears.

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By: Bethany the Martian https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-958879 Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:02:13 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-958879 Also, people are missing the big picture. For ever Led Zeppelin, Elvis, and Beatles there were a hundred bands or musicians putting out really generic music for the time. Ever go look up the top 100 from some random year in the wayback? There’s some people you recognize, and a lot of people you will never have heard of before in your life. There were also plenty of songs by people you know that you’ve never heard unless you’re a devotee of the group or artist.

It’s like SNL. Watching SNL at any given time has a suck ratio- it’s live, bits fail that should be funny, bits that the writer was worried about do very well. The compilations that come out later pick the funniest bits, as do our memories, so it’s easy to go “Oh, SNL was so much funnier back when {insert name here} was on.” I’m not saying that’s necessarily untrue, I’m just pointing out that the data is skewed in favor of nostalgia.

The point is, there was generic pop intended for mass consumption back in the day, just like it is now. And it was ruining everything then, too.

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By: Ed https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951301 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:58:27 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951301 Meanwhile, does everything really turn to brown, as the sun beats down, in Kashmir? I hope Positive Weather Solutions have a view on that.

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951211 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:03:11 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951211 “MUSIC”: Parents’ fury at ungrammatical pop lyric being hailed as art. Positive Weather Solutions unavailable for comment.

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By: Ed https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951202 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:53:32 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951202 Also, “Sober girls around me, actin’ like they drunk” is a great lyric.

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951069 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:20:38 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951069 Also “Hey Jude” is only on a very limited number of Beatles compilations. Apple don’t license their stuff out for bog standard Sounds Of The ‘60s-type comps.

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951064 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:14:22 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951064 #8: Oldest trick in the bad critic book: print lyrics without the contextualising music (or indeed context of any kind other than what the bad critic has chosen to superimpose on it) and cackle. A grave disservice to both Led Zep and the Far East Movement (each is probably my favourite “track” of its respective year).

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By: Mutley https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951060 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:59:45 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951060 “The cast of Glee have had more songs chart than the Beatles. Well maybe The Beatles should have thought through their strategy more and released three to four songs a week!”

Didn’t both Elvis and the Beatles benefit from something like a Glee strategy? Elvis in the UK in 1957 when he had 12 different top 30 single entries resulting from a change of record label. In 1964 the Beatles had an even larger number of singles (16?) in the US top 30, again from different labels.

Perhaps the Glee people did it more professionally than the record label managements of the 50s and 60s, but in all cases with the same motive – to cash in on a perceived short-lived phenomenon.

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By: Kerry https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951054 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:45:54 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951054 As I said elsewhere, my other favourite part of this list is how at least seven of them are “A woman is more popular than a man (or group of men)! HoW DARE SHE”.

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By: Tom https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951047 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:40:31 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951047 #4 I actually know very little about BuzzFeed – I don’t think anyone in particular pays for its data, though I’m sure entertainment companies, youth research specialists etc. follow it. When you look in its various categories the slope of the “viral” curve seems very steep – you’re down to relatively low numbers (a few thousand) of FB shares quite quickly.

This particular post surfaced a while ago – I’d definitely seen it before, I’m not sure why it’s booming now!

My favourite in the small but growing “rockist viral” category is this: http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/1287091/Lyrics+of+the+70+s+vs+2010/ God bless R Plant and J Page but if that’s the cream of the 70s crop it’s a miracle we survived the decade.

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By: Unlogged Mog https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951042 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:32:56 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951042 #6 -I didn’t know that about Hey Jude’s era- would the singles actually be re-pressed each year if enough were selling?

#4- The savviness of modern popstars is overlooked, alongside the necessary careerism of even the most “genuine” stars. Putting in the graft to get your songs out there, whatever that graft is always going to be necessary, except in a few very isolated cases (Rebecca Black is basically what springs to mind but I don’t think anyone would want that) and it’s just weird denialism to suggest it’s not. It’s interesting that you point out Led Zep had been successful in the music industry previous to forming the band; they’re something of a blind spot on my radar and I didn’t even know about that, which goes some way to show the level of brainwashing about what bands do or don’t do to be successful as per the cult of “real music.”

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-951028 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:51:55 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-951028 When Hey Jude was released (indeed, when Angels by Robbie Williams was released- remember these are recent developments) singles that sold for too long were recalled and remaindered- bands had other songs to release.

Not actually the case in “Hey Jude”‘s case; in the seven-inch single era all major label releases were kept on catalogue and only deleted if sales per year fell below a certain level (I think it was 1000).

But the real reason why nobody has taken the charts seriously in 25 years is that the record industry decided to turn them into a marketing contest, with positions related to the success of individual record label strategies rather than genuine popularity. What gets in the Top 40 now is entirely dependent upon narrowcast music radio policies which decide that nothing gets in except club bangers or Brit School types.

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By: Weej https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-950949 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:42:07 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-950949 “Things ain’t what they used to be” – the oldest, most critic-proof meme in existence. Even bearing that in mind, that Buzzfeed article is terrible shit, isn’t it?
The BBC sound of 2012 shortlist looks pretty decent actually, as far as the five acts I’ve heard of go at least.

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By: thefatgit https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-950800 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:06:07 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-950800 I’m in awe! Where to start? Buzzfeed is an odd app which rewards you with some kind of generic big up, every time you visit. This must appeal to insecure teenagers who occasionally look up from Angry Birds or MW3 or VEVO to see which way the wind is blowing. If the “fun” article encourages a “rate me” response then they feel “engaged” with the Real World for a moment before returning to freeing green pigs or firing bullets or watching Lady Gaga bathing in Cheerios or whatever. Noble intentions, but do the slackjawed scamps really give a fig? And which MR firms are paying for the data produced by Buzzfeed? Is it a useful resource?*

As far as the article is concerned, the rockist buttons are being pushed to the point of imminent malfunction. Whether this is useful to anyone other than those who don’t think very much isn’t even an issue. I feel a sad kind of resignation that articles like this will garner more responses than they really deserve, but there is a message hidden beneath those half-assed assumptions. The message is that perceptions of what is important are changing. How we buy music, how we consume music is wildly different, yet the music industry has been slow or even reluctant to adapt. This is where the real focus lies. And Hazel has hit the nail on the head:

“…That’s not a judgement on the bands, it’s just that I don’t think Led Zeppelin ever went on the Old Grey Whistle Test and bellowed ‘HELLO GUYS, BUY OUR NEW SINGLE!’ Rihanna does, it’s how she works; the industries in which they exist are while nominally the same, totally different- for Rihanna, anything less than a number one single is failure. For Led Zeppelin, that didn’t matter so they didn’t do it. Which brings everything rather neatly around to what the fuck they have to do with each other in the first place and consequently the fact that Tik Tok by Ke$ha has outsold any single Beatles song.”

Ignoring the fact that Led Zep were an albums band, they didn’t need to BLATANTLY self-promote. They were all successful in the music industry before there was a Led Zeppelin. They had their followers and expanded their fanbase as they came together. Their worth, as a product although unimportant compared to their music, was virtually pre-established through a friendly music press, and they sold vinyl in spades. Rihanna HAD to sell, and importantly be seen to sell from the get-go. Otherwise, how would her record company know to invest gazillions in her?

There is a whole swathe of artists who are corporate-savvy compared to the previous generation who concentrated on the substance of their product rather than the frilly packaging. They left that to the Suits. Now you’ll get more artists who are engaged in the selling process as much as the performing process. It’s a subtle engagement, but an engagement nonetheless. Even the naive, starstruck poppets in X Factor are clued-up enough to make “the phone gesture”.

The Spotify/iTunes thing offers incalculable choice, but even the most informed consumer will shrink into a comfotable space in the face of so many decisions in what to buy or what to listen to. The menu is broad, but as a consumer you know what flavours hit the pleasure centre, so you’ll concentrate on those. The infinite choice encourages you to narrow your scope. In the end, it’s safety first (unless it’s your job to try everything on the menu, of course). The adventurer, on the other hand, will come across a load of boring crap, before hitting on something interesting, but that’s what adventurers do: after all, nobody cared about Scott’s progress in Antarctica until things got sticky. Who knows what Hillary thought before he reached Base Camp? We’re all impatient and want to cut to the chase. Everybody remembers Duran Duran and The Cocteau Twins….who remembers Dif Juz? That’s not to say Dif Juz were boring, but most would not even give them a second look. This is what the article throws up. Why Shania Twain? Why not Reba McIntyre? Why not Bobbie Gentry? Stats don’t matter. But I’ll bet behind every Spotify and iTunes there are algorithms producing stats by the shitload that people are paid to analyse. To them it means more than anything, but to us…?

*Tom would be able to expand on this more than I.

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By: byebyepride https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-950741 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:00:34 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-950741 It was all down hill from when they started writing folk songs down and flogging collections of songs to the middle class ladies to read in their drawing rooms.

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By: Alan not logged in https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-950735 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:47:04 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-950735 Freaky Trigger – getting things off your chest so you don’t have to

by which i mean: well done you :-)

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By: Hazel https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2011/12/limited-edition-justin-bieber-vinyl/comment-page-1#comment-950624 Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:35:22 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=22333#comment-950624 In case you were wondering, two hours and yes I do need to get out more. :(

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